Forever War
by RowanLinhouse
Summary: Alanna's son Alan is a Squire, and the war that haunted his mother's squire and his friends has rekindled. Joining forces with the previous generation, Alan and his best friend attempt to root out the evil that is taking hold in Scanra.
1. A little different

**Chapter One**

**A little different**

"Eva, are you done killing that dummy yet?" I heard my friend call from across the practice courts.

"Ease up and come around." I whispered softly into my horse's ear. "What do you want Alan?" I yelled, pulling my visor off. As Sea Dream, my horse, pulled up next to the fence, Alan started talking at an unusually fast rate, even for him.

"You know how we're squires already and how knights are coming in for the conference? Well a few more just arrived and guess what! One of them wants me as his squire. Can you believe it? I'm going to get to train with a field knight. I'm not going to be stuck mucking stables or shuffling papers for the rest of my squiredom" He jumped down and offered Dream a sugar cube as I dismounted.

"I told you someone would take your sorry butt." I said, grinning from ear to ear. Truthfully I was still hurt that no one had chosen me, and now I was the last unclaimed squire. Alan and I had been joking the past few weeks about the two of us being stuck at the castle as all the other new squires got picked, but now I was going to have to face it alone. "Now may I return to my jousting, o-great squire?" I said mockingly as I started to remount.

"NO! That's the other part of the news. You have to come with me right now, someone wants to meet you!" He grabbed my arm and started dragging me away. Dream snorted, being her typical sarcastic self, and followed after Alan, abet against my will.

"Alan, I have to clean Dream up first." I said pulling my arm out of his grasp.

"She's right, Alan." I heard a voice from behind me say. For a moment I thought it was Alan's sister, Aly, but then I realized it couldn't be, for she was in the Copper Isles, at least, as far as Alan and I knew. I spun around quickly to face whoever had snuck up on me. A lady, only slightly taller than me, stood there. She had on the costume of a knight at court, with her sword hanging by her hip. Red hair, the same shade as Alan's, was loose around her shoulders. Behind her stood a giant of a man who was my height plus half at least.

"Never mind, I can introduce you here. Eva, this is my mom, Lady Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau. Mom, this is my friend, Evaline of Falcon's Ridge." My mouth hung open for a moment, then I slid haphazardly off my horse and bowed. I had known Alan was the Lioness's son, of course, but I had never expected to meet her. I mumbled some sort of a greeting and was answered by a slight laugh.

"You were right Alan, I never thought I would meet a squire shorter than myself, but she is." I blushed and kicked Alan in the leg as I stood.

"OUCH! Eva!" He jumped a foot away from me, causing another round of laughter from his mom, and surprisingly the man behind her as well. The knight must have noticed my inquisitive gaze, because he stuck out his hand in greeting.

"My name is Raoul. I have the unfortunate fortune of being friends with this here hard head," he tilted his head towards Alanna, "and knight master to your friend there." Alan was still rubbing his leg and glaring at me jokingly.

"P…pleasure to meet you both." I managed to say. Dream, wonderfully fine horse that she is, finally rescued me by sticking her head on top of mine. It must have been a funny sight, my horse stands 6 foot tall to my 4 and a bit, and she has to bend down to rest her muzzle on the top of my head. They laughed again.

"If you'll excuse me, Lady Alanna, Lord Raoul, I must see to my horse." I bolted up the hill to the stables in record time. I swear Dream was laughing at me the entire way.

* * *

"Eva, let me in." Alan knocked on the door to my room in his usual frenzied rush. Just to spite him I took extra time in opening the door.

"Look I'm sorry I sprang that on you, I was going to tell you on the way up, honest. I didn't expect them to follow me, and what with Raoul taking me as his squire and mom being here I wasn't thinking clearly. Plus you always think clearly, but then you were riding Dream and you were more concerned with taking care of her and…" I had learned a while back that the best way to deal with Alan was to let him get everything he needed to say out, then wait for him to run out of air.

"It's fine." I said, after his monologue had ended. I returned to the knife I had been sharpening. "Next time though, give me some warning before introducing me to people you know I'm in awe of okay." Soundlessly I slipped my blade back into its sheath and picked up another one to clean. At that moment there was another knock on the door. With a sigh I got up and opened it.

The Lioness was standing just outside, hand raised impatiently to knock again, like mother like son. My mouth dropped open for the second time that day.

"Hi Mom, come in please." A chipper voice said from behind me. I looked straight up at Alan and glared.

"If I may, Squire Evaline." Alanna said.

"Of course milady." I said, holding the door open as she entered. "Would you like some tea, or water, or..."

"That's not necessary." She said with a slight smile. "You," she pointed to Alan, "Scram, and no listening at the door, I don't care if your dad did teach you how, my magic will show me if you do."

With a sullen expression my friend retreated from the room and I was alone with one of my biggest hero's.

"May I?" Alanna asked, indicating to a chair.

"Of course, I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier. Are you sure I can't get you anything?" My words came out in a barely understandable rush. I felt like I was turning into Alan.

"Please just sit Squire Evaline, there is something I wanted to talk to you about." I sat very suddenly on my bed, nearly squishing my cat, who had hidden himself under the covers.

"Indigo, if you keep doing that one of these days you're going to regret it." I whispered as I pulled the black cat onto my lap.

_"Well if you were more careful about where you sat it would not be a problem"_ He replied. His purple eyes glared up at me, but I could see he was just poking fun at my klutzy nature, again.

"He has a point there." Alanna said with a laugh. I stared at her wide eyed for a moment, trying to figure out what she was talking about, and then realized she must have heard my cat. Until now I had only ever known me and Alan to hear him; must be a genetic thing.

"What was it you wanted to talk about milady?" I asked softly, still holding onto poor Indigo.

"Well, Alan says that you've come up short as far as knight masters go, and to be honest none of the squires I've met up till today have met my… needs you could say. I spend more time then I would like on diplomatic missions, so I would need a squire who could keep their mouth shut in tense situations, yet hold her own in the snake pit that is our current political state. Beyond that I also need someone apt in combat and tactics, it wouldn't do for me to lead a suicide charge in battle because someone didn't review my plans correctly." She laughed, I was still squeezing my cat. "I also need someone who can put up with my family, and someone who could speak her mind without hesitation when times called for it. Frankly, I've only met one person to meet all these criteria. I was wondering if you would be willing to be my squire?"

I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out if it was a joke or not. "Yes." I finally managed to stammer out, after Indigo dug his incredibly sharp claws into my leg.

"Great." The Lioness grinned again. When she smiled I could see the resemblance between her and her son, who I had never known to frown out of a fight. "Now, you need to pack, we ride out for Pirates Swoop tomorrow. I'll send my son back in here to help." She rose quickly and left the room. After a moments hesitation I grabbed my saddle bags and started packing.

"Ha!" Alan said as he walked into my room. "I told you someone would pick you." I sighed and straightened up from the bag I had been filling.

"Now you're going to have to put up with me for another 4 years." I said with mock soberness. My grin probably gave away my amusement though. In the next instant Alan caught me off guard, he hugged me.

"My best friend is going to practically be my sister," He said, squeezing my shoulders together, he was too tall to hug my waist.

"That is if you don't kill her first." I said with a cough. Immediately he stepped back, still grinning stupidly. I glared and resumed throwing my needed supplies into saddlebags. "If you're going to stand there help me pack." I started to turn back around, call him lazy or somthing, but was caught up into another hug. "Alan." I said, and was cut off.

"Please be careful." He said. His voice had lost all of its normal humor. "The road from here to Pirates Swoop is safe, but I'm not sure I'll see you again before we end up in some huge war. You know how it's been the last few years with Scanra. Please Eva. I've seen my mom come back from battle before, she wasn't always herself. Dad always broke that shell, but sometimes it took days. I don't want to lose you." He looked down into my eyes, absolutely serious.

"You don't need to worry about me," I responded with a forced smile. "I've got your mom to look after me, and Dream, and we wouldn't be marching off to battle alone, just our numbers when we get to fight will send Maggot running." I gave a slight laugh.

"That might not be enough." His voice was still distraught. "I would feel better if Raoul would let us ride with you two more often, but third company goes where it's needed. Maybe if I talked to mom…"

"Alan." I cut him off. "You can't ask your knight master to change their course so that you can see a childhood friend." I backed out of the hug he still held me in and turned to finish packing.

"But what if you're not just my childhood friend?" He asked.

I spun around yet again, to demand what he meant by that, but was cut off by something blocking my mouth. Then I realized what he was saying… and that maybe he was right. When he pulled back, hands still resting on my shoulders, I was silent. Unconsciously I knew my face was turning the most brilliant shade of scarlet.

"I don't want to lose you." He repeated. This time however, my idiot brain grasped the whole meaning.

"I don't want to lose you either." I said, softer even then normal. Some part of my brain was calling me seventeen kinds of idiot for the situation I was now in, but I didn't really seem to care. "Now I'll never get packed." I said, with mock exasperation. Alan grinned.

"Well my mom did task me with helping you." I grinned back at him and tossed what little I had left to pack at him.


	2. Pirates Swoop

"What was that milady?" I said, embarrassed. I had been daydreaming for the past few minutes and hadn't realized she had been talking. All of last night and this morning I had been distracted, unable to get Alan out of my head. We were on the road to Pirates Swoop already, and I had given Dream free reign over an hour ago.

"I said, how did you meet my son?" She asked again with slight smile. If she didn't guess what had happened last night then I would eat a Stormwing, feathers and all. My face turned a wonderful shade of scarlet.

"Honestly my lady, I picked a fight with him. And Prince Jasson. And several other of his friends." This was not my favorite story to tell, and if Alanna was anything like her son it was going to have to be told fully. The Lioness would settle for nothing less than exact reports. Alan would settle for nothing less than a long winded story.

"And why in Mithros name would you pick a fight with those idiots? They're all three years your senior and have been training their whole lives." She was on the verge of laughing again. I straightened in my saddle, drawing my self up to my full four foot seven.

"They called me short." I mumbled, gazing off into the distance, recalling that moment. Alan, the Prince, and a few of their other friends had standing in the hall after dinner. "I told them that being short was an advantage because I could slip through blocks that they would have had trouble getting around. They called me impertinent. I guess they didn't like that to much. We were all standing up in the page's wing and they grabbed my key, trying to make me jump for it. I told them that was a bad idea and that my height put me in a great position to..." I smiled, recalling the look on their faces.

"Yes, I've heard this story." Alanna chimed in. "And you threw the first punch?"

"It was a feint." I said, my voice soft as I remembered the fight. "To get them to attack me first. The Men-at-Arms taught me that trick when they realized I was cursed with my height. They of course called it a blessing, but I've hated it all my life. Although, that fight I beat them all soundly." I grinned again. "When Alan and I got stuck mucking the stables for a week because of it he told me that his fried Neal would be upset, because I had beaten his record for how long it took to get in trouble, provided I hadn't even set foot in the dining hall."

"They deserved it." I stared at the Lioness for a moment, wondering what she meant. "Those boys have all grown up with me, Thayet, Buri, Daine, and Kel. They should know that height and sex, really doesn't matter." I grinned at her, thinking of the things "those boys" had gone through before they became pages. "I'm glad they finally learned their lesson, and that you put up with Alan afterward. Now hurry up, I'd like to make Pirates Swoop by nightfall." Alanna speed up, and Dream eased into the same rhythm, I slid back into daydreams.

"So, how is your friendship with my son at the moment?" She asked about an hour later, a slight tease in her voice.

"Umm…" The question caught me off guard, I'd been thinking about the night before. "It's, fine I guess. We're no longer trying to kill each other on a daily basis if that's what you mean. We missed the first dinner because we were with Sir Nealen. Alan was right, he was a bit peeved that I had caused trouble faster than he had ever been able to. He blamed it on Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan. Said that she never let him cause enough trouble. Because of our absence Alan was assigned as my page sponsor, so we spent a lot of time together as pages. He probably should've had a sponsor himself, but everyone said he knew the palace to well and would've been showing his sponsor the secret tunnels. Not that he ever showed me those of course my lady, we tried desperately to stay out of trouble." She chuckled again.

"He cares about you, you know. He told me that if you got killed he would hold me personally responsible." I blushed and looked down.

"He knows people will pick on me because I'm small, he's very loyal to his friends." I tried to justify to myself why he would have said that.

"And if that's all there is to it he is a very stupid boy." We rode in silence for a bit after that, me too afraid to say anything, and Alanna searching the horizon for that one hill.

"Finally." She said as we came in view of the ocean. "Twenty minutes and we'll be at the Swoop."

* * *

"Keep your block up Squire." Thom laughed as his sword cracked against my ribs. I gasped and caught my breath.

"Have I mentioned that you hit really hard for a book worm." He just chuckled. "Again?" I asked. I never tired of training with Thom, we traded sarcastic comments and blows nearly everyday, and I knew that everyday I got closer to beating him. I still fell short though, no pun intended. We had been at the Swoop for a little over three weeks, and already I felt at home.

"You are a glutton for punishment." He said with another laugh.

"Squire Evaline." Alanna called from across the yard. Instantly I turned around to face her, Thom couldn't stop his strike quite so instantly. All four foot seven of me went flying about ten feet forward into the mud. I jumped up, now covered from head to toe in the thick gooey substance.

"Thom! How dare you strike an unarmed warrior." That wasn't Alanna's voice.

"Hey! She was armed and pounding me to a pulp not five seconds ago." Thom couldn't keep the smile from his voice. O brother, or should I say brothers.

"When did you get here Alan?" I asked. Of course I had a mouthful of mud so it was completely incomprehensible. But of course Alan understood me perfectly.

"Just now, obviously I couldn't leave you with my family." He laughed and wrapped me in a one arm hug. "They'd kill you as fast as all of Scanra."

"Would not, she puts up to much of a fight." Thom laughed and threw his practice sword in the bucket that held the rest.

"Inside with both of you." His mom demanded, a hand on each of our shoulders. "I don't want to see you again until you're clean." We both grinned sheepishly and bolted inside.

* * *

"So how's life at the Swoop?" Alan asked as soon as we were out of earshot.

"It's nice. Your parents are teaching me stuff I would never have imagined existed." I heard Alan mumble "dad" under his breath. "Plus your brother is the third best swordsman I've ever meet. Right after your mom and the king." I paused for a moment. "Plus I've heard all the stories of what you and your sister did when you were little." I grinned.

"What did you hear?" He spun me around by my shoulders to face him.

"You know it's really not fair when you use your size to your advantage like that." I griped jokingly.

"What did you hear?" He repeated, trying to keep from laughing.

"O, nothing much. One about Princes Kali and you two filling your mom's bed with frogs, another where you hid under the straw just to see how long it would take them to find you. Then…. O there was so many I can't remember them all." He finally broke down and laughed after that.

"You know, mom doesn't tell those stories lightly, I think she considers you almost like a daughter. Round out the family you know, two boys, two girls."

"I like your family a whole lot better than I like mine." My voice suddenly became solemn and low, almost hateful even, like it always did when I spoke of my family. Not something I did often. I turned and went into my room, leaving Alan outside a puzzled expression on his face.


End file.
